10 Best Alternatives to the iTunes Store

Amie Street

Indie tracks on a sliding price scale, but browsing is like rummaging in an unorganized thrift store.

You might find the next big thing on Amie Street... just not today's big thing.

Like eMusic, Amie Street (amiestreet.com) is on a mission to expand your horizons. Most of its million-plus tracks come from small labels and independent musicians. Some major label artists are represented, but far fewer than we wanted to find. Worse, searches can’t be sorted by price or artist, making browsing a hassle. Songs are available as DRM-free variable bit rate MP3s with an average encoding of 256kbps, though the quality of files uploaded from independent artists may vary.

Happily, so do Amie’s prices. Songs first appear on the store for free or cheap, then increase in price as more people buy them, reaching a maximum $0.98 apiece. With some exceptions, albums cost the total of all their songs but are capped at $8.98. Amie lets you recommend music to earn “Street Cred,” money that can be spent in the store. All this means low or no cost for trying a lot of new music, though shoppers are limited to 80 free downloads every 8 hours. We can live with that, and a Mac-native downloading app and music-gifting sweeten the deal. We just wish you could gift more than one item at a time.

Lala

It's a dream streamer.

Lala boasts two music catalogs, and one of them is yours.

Lala (www.lala.com) flips the script on Rhapsody and Napster’s pay-to-stream subscription plans by letting you upload the tunes in your Mac’s Music folder--including iTunes playlists and old FairPlay-protected tracks--to stream from Lala’s site for free. Sound quality is excellent overall, but expect occasional distortion, mismatched playlist contents, and some misnamed tracks. The Web-based music player works just like iTunes.

This minor licensing miracle is achieved by Lala’s lawyers and a Mac-native Music Mover application that also syncs music bought at Lala back to your computer. Oh yeah, Lala sells DRM-free VBR MP3 files with average bit rates of 256kbps too. They’ll cost you $.89, $.99, and $1.29, but most songs go for only $.89. Albums cost $9.99, but look for deals--many can be had for less than Amazon’s price. Unfortunately, Lala’s selection could be better, even with 7 million–plus tracks. Some music is available only as $0.10 streaming Web Songs that can be accessed from Lala’s site. But even these, like regular MP3 downloads, can be given easily as gifts.

One caveat: As we went to press, Apple acquired Lala. No word yet on if Lala.com will stay open, or if Lala’s streaming or social features will be added to iTunes proper. Stay tuned.

Masterbeat

A DJ's delight, its electronica tracks go on for miles, and it even has lossless WAV files.

One screen, many options, and 160 beats per minute.

As its naughty name suggests, Masterbeat (www.masterbeat.com) isn’t your grandma’s music store. Not unless she’s down with the dance, hip-hop, and electronica that abounds in its million-plus catalog, alongside instrumental and a cappella samples for your (or your grandma’s) party-starting needs. Tracks are DRM-free MP3 files encoded at 320kbps (some at 256kbps), and many are also available as uncompressed WAV files. Prices range from $0.99 to $1.99 per song, and WAV files cost a dollar extra. Full albums start at $9.99, but Masterbeat’s many EPs cost $5.96.

Navigating the site may take more time than you’d like--it’s an all-Flash control panel awash in tiny blue text and buttons that look like someone set the starship Enterprise’s computer to “complicated.” But once you make sense of Masterbeat’s madness, having nearly all its features in one window is convenient, if still hard to read. A robust search feature lets you sort by the usual suspects as well as record label, release-date range, and more. But between the restrictions on gifting options (sent via snail mail or emailed to other Masterbeat members only) and the unapologetic lack of music without block-rockin’ beats, this store’s appeal is limited.

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There seems to be an unstated assumption that buying MP3 downloads is the only game in town for getting digital music. I guess if you're on an iTunes user it is, which is why this article is written the way it is (seeing as this is on a Mac-focused site). Streaming music on demand and taking subscription music with you are both awesome options that you can't do with iTunes. The way this articles is written it's like having a car article that says all other cars are terrible compared to the Pontiac Aztec -- because the Aztec is the only car that turns into a camper. So you focus on one feature, while ignoring everything else. Are you interested in this new Porsche? Not unless it turns into a camper!

I agree with the article's assessment that both Napster and Rhapsody are very poor competitors to iTunes if all you want to do is download MP3s. But these services best features are not MP3 downloads. MP3 downloads are a minor add on. Where they shine is in streaming tracks on demand and taking subscription music with you. You can stream most songs in their catalog whenever you want starting at $7 (Napster) and $12 (Rhapsody). With their To Go plans and a capable portable media player you can take all the music you want with you for $15/month. The MP3 downloads are just a little extra benefit. These are features that iTunes doesn't support. It also doesn't mention Zune, which has very similar capabilities and price points (but is only available for PCs).

I also like how the review of eMusic doesn't mention perhaps its biggest asset -- it's so damn cheap! Even the summary at the end just says "monthly plan," where the others have prices. Depending on the plan, eMusic's tracks end up costing 40-60 cents each. That's one third to a half the price of iTunes. Think that might be worth mentioning?

So yeah, if you want to download MP3s, nothing blows away iTunes. But if you are open to more options like on-demand streaming and taking subscription tracks with you, there are way better options for getting music than iTunes.

What do you think? Maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it. Is it me, or does this article not give other sites a fair shake?